Beetles and Snakes
by Hemlocktail
Summary: After Snakepaw came back, he was.. Well, different. He never left the medicine den, and refused to say a word to anybody. Others have gone missing lately too, notably a warrior by the name of Berrybranch. Her body was found a few days later, mangled and floating in the stream. Can Fogpaw and his newfound friend, Beetlepaw, solve the mystery behind the disappearances in ShadowClan?


_"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother."_

Fogpaw lay awake in the apprentice's den. It was beginning to grow lighter, and the sun had begun to rise, however Fogpaw didn't need to be up to patrol until later on. He couldn't fall back asleep though. It had been just under a quarter-moon since his brother, Snakepaw had disappeared. The medicine cat apprentice had gone off to gather herbs, but he didn't come back. Patrol after patrol went searching for him, day after day. But there was no sign of him, his scent trail just stopped. It was as if he had been snatched off by a large bird, but no birds big enough to carry off a cat that was nearly full grown. Not around here anyways.

But Fogpaw wasn't ready to give up yet, he had a feeling that his brother was still out there. He wouldn't rest until he found some sign, some sort of closure. His body, a message from StarClan, anything!

Fogpaw turned and glanced over his shoulder as he heard a rustle from a nearby nest. Beetlepaw, a brown tabby apprentice around his age, was muttering and twitching in his sleep. The young tom had recently lost his mother, Berrybranch. She, much like Snakepaw, had disappeared one day. Her body washed up in the stream, mangled, yet still identifiable, a few days later. He felt bad for Beetlepaw, the apprentice had been such a cheerful goofball before the incident. Now he just seemed glum. He still made an effort, not wanting to worry the cats around him, but Fogpaw noticed him at night, restless in his nest, his mind plagued by reoccurring nightmares.

Wanting to get his mind off things, Fogpaw slowly rose to his paws and stretched. Being careful not to step on any cats still asleep, he padded out of the den. As the camp began to brighten, and cats began to stir, Fogpaw made his way to the deputy, Lilypool, who was organizing patrols. The ginger and white she-cat caught his eye as he was walking and she flicked her tail in greeting.

"Good morning Fogpaw! Are you up to go on a border patrol this morning?" She asked him. "Brindlepatch is in the medicine den right now, must've had a thorn in her nest. But she'll be joining us too." Brindlepatch was Fogpaw's mentor, so he didn't really have a reason to turn down the patrol.

"Sure. It'll be nice to stretch my legs anyways." He said, yawning. He gave his silver tabby pelt a few quick licks while he waited.

"Looks like we're all good to go!" Brindlepatch announced, making her way to the patrol. Her green eyes shone with eagerness, something that Fogpaw appreciated at first, but lately her energy just made him weary.

Birds called to each other as they fluttered overhead, and the patrol made their way towards the ThunderClan border. It seemed quiet, almost _too_ quiet, and Fogpaw couldn't help but feel uneasy, as if there was something lurking, waiting to jump out at the patrol. He couldn't scent any fox though, which he believed to be a good sign.

As they reached the border, ThunderClan's scent was stale, they hadn't been here yet. Lost in thought while the rest of the patrol marked the border, he hadn't heard them approach. Of course, luck would have it that the ThunderClan border patrol arrived the moment Fogpaw happened to step a hair over the border.

"Hey!" Fogpaw was snapped out of his thoughts by the sharp yell of an unfamiliar voice. A large black tomcat stood in front of him, his thick fur fluffed up and his lips drawn back in the beginning of a snarl. "Don't take another step or I'll make sure you regret it." He hissed.

Immediately, Brindlepatch was at Fogpaw's side. "Don't you dare touch a hair on his pelt!" She snapped, green eyes narrowed.

"He's on our side of the border." The tom pointed out. Fogpaw noticed he had an apprentice with him, a scrawny ginger tabby tom, who looked no more than 6 moons and entirely terrified of conflict.

"He's barely crossed it! It's an honest mistake! I'm sure if it were your own apprentice there who'd done it, you'd argue the same thing." The calico warrior argued. At the mention of himself, the apprentice shrunk back against his mentor, cowering.

"It's his first day out of camp, could you ShadowClan cats be anymore arrogant?" The ThunderClan warrior lashed his tail.

"I- You-" Brindlepatch stammered, unable to form a coherent thought. If Fogpaw hadn't known better, he probably would've chuckled to himself. However, despite her sweet and energetic exterior, Brindlepatch, like many calicos, had a nasty temper.

"You guys?" Came the call from Lilypool. It was distant, and her voice held a hint of alarm. "I need you to come check this out." The quarreling cats immediately stopped and all exchanged looks.

"We've uh.. We've got a ThunderClan patrol here. Is it urgent? Or can it wait until we've settled things?" Brindlepatch called back.

"Bring them with you. We may need an extra set of paws.." The message was ominous. _What for?_ Fogpaw could only wonder. Brindlepatch nodded to the ThunderClan cats, and they quickly padded over to Lilypool. Fear-scent flooded off of the ThunderClan apprentice, to the point where it almost overwhelmed Fogpaw.  
Fogpaw's eyes widened in shock at the sight that lay before him. A limp body lay in a pit, blocked off by a log. The cat's fur was dark and littered with tabby stripes. "Snakepaw?" He called hoarsely.  
Lilypool nodded, resting her tail tip on Fogpaw's shoulder. "He's alive, but barely. StarClan knows how he managed to stay alive this long under here. It's a miracle."

The group of ShadowClan cats rushed to the log, and carefully pushed it aside, making enough room to pull out the small medicine apprentice. "You there! Make yourself useful, grab him. But be careful, he's hurt enough as it is!" Brindlepatch called to the ThunderClan cats. "We'll take it from here, thank you." She meowed as the black tom and his apprentice gently lowered Snakepaw to the ground.

"Is he going to be okay..?" Came the meek question from the scrawny ginger apprentice, it was the first time during the encounter he'd spoken.

"He's not our problem, Weaselpaw, let's go." The black tom growled, turning to leave. Weaselpaw seemed unwilling to argue the matter with his mentor, and without saying another word padded away after him.

"We need to get him to Gorsethroat immediately." Fogfoot cried, helping Brindlepatch lift his body."You're gonna be okay. We're here. Gorsethroat is going to make you better." The tom murmured to his brother. Snakepaw let out a quiet whimper in response, his pale green eyes dull.  
As the ShadowClan patrol made their way back to camp, a crow flew overhead, cawing. It seemed to be the only sound in the forest, even the trees stayed silent.

 **Hey! Welcome to** ** _Beetles and Snakes_** **! I'm so glad you decided to give this a look. Hopefully you'll come back to read the second chapter after it's up. I hope to write this story to the end, and I really hope you'll like it.**

 **-Riot**


End file.
